Chapter 5 Question #3

A concept that I found both useful and interesting from this weeks reading is Personal Space. Personal Space acts as a kind of portable territory that we carry with us where ever we go. I chose to discuss personal space because I find it is one of the most violated and ignored nonverbal messages. I personally can not stand it when someone stands to close to me in line. I feel like they are breathing down my neck. Being only five foot one makes me feel even more vulnerable because most males are taller than me and I feel like the tall people out there are running us short people over. When you are talking to a friend it is often less uncomfortable if they invade your personal space because you know them as well as when you are with a person you like. On Friday I went to the bank to withdraw money. There was a line with about 5 people ahead of me and about 8 people behind me. I was very annoyed because the man standing behind me kept creeping into my personal space. To rememdy this I would scoot up a little closer to the person in front of me who was still a considerable distance away. When I would move up so would he. I was then doing what I absolutely hate, violating the personal space of the person in front of me. I felt very uncomfortable being crowded and felt like saying back off but didn’t because I didn’t want to look like a jerk. I think people really need to respect others personal space.